نشریه هفت آسمان
پیاپی 50 (تابستان 1390)

The rapid development of Ottoman Empire in the early 13th century A. D. to include Byzantium and the Balkans was due to both material and spiritual factors; and in this regard, one can refer to the spiritual relationship between Baktashieh and the Ottoman Army called "Yenichiris". The positive relationship between the Shiite orders and the Ottoman rulers persisted so long as the former worked within a legitimate framework; thus, the religious leaders, the Sufi sects, and Alevis supported the ruling government. The decline of the role of religion and the religious institutions caused the public revolts. Overlooking the warnings from the religious scholars, and getting involved in a variety of corruptions, first Bayazid caused the public revolts to be conceived. The establishment of Safavid Government in 1501 A. D. encouraged the esoteric Shiites, and was a major factor in the development of the Shiite Culture. The increasing rise of the economic scandals and oppressions are also regarded as the major factors in the revolts. Explaining the above-mentioned factors, this paper is concerned to examine the various Islamic and especially Shiite revolts of the early 13th century.

There are many figures that represent evil in the Islamic tradition. Among them are Satan, Iblis, Taghut, Pharaoh, and al-Dajjal. However, the only figure with an eschatological significance is al-Dajjal. Al-Dajjal occupies an important place in the body of Hadith and manuals of Islamic theology. Very few Persian works, however, have been written on this subject. This article is concerned to offer the reader an Islamic understanding of al-Dajjal by referring to two major sources: the Quran and the Hadith. The Classical and contemporary scholar's viewpoints as well as the sources of Islamic theology will be explored. Hadith literature has a detailed account of the emergence of al-Dajjal and his struggle against Jesus and Mahdi.

Sham (the classical Arabic name for Syria) has been populated by the adherents of different Islamic sects ever since the coming of Islam. Shiite sects have also been living in this territory since the early centuries after Hegira; even they have sometimes succeeded in establishing Shiite governments. Jabal Amel once was one of the most important academic centers for Shiite jurisprudence. These considerations are indicative of the utmost importance of the examination of the history and beliefs of this territory. One of the ways in which one can study the history, society, and the beliefs of the people of a region, is to take its holy shrines and sacred places into account. Thus, the present writing is concerned to consider the most important tombs of different Shiite sects. The paper is divided into four parts, each of which is concerned with the tombs of one sect: the first part is concerned with the tombs of Twelvers; the second with the tombs of Alevis; the third with the tombs of Ismailis; and the fourth with the tombs of Hurufis. Discussing the center of every sect, each part has been concerned with a brief introduction of its holy tombs. Finally, two considerations have been made about the significance of the study of these tombs.

The concept of child of God has been important both in the interreligious polemics and intrareligious discussions. The issue is highlighted when we notice that, relying on the sacred scriptures, monotheists have presented different pictures of the child of God. In this research, we will see that in the Hebrew Bible there was no agreement on the meaning of the child of God. It could refer to supernatural beings, the righteous people, and the Davidic king. The New Testament emerged in a totally new environment. Furthermore, the meaning of Jesus’ proper Sonship is not the same all throughout the Synoptics, Pauline and Johannine writings. In the Qur’an there are references to the use of the “daughters of God” for supernatural beings such as the angels, the jinn, and pagan deities; and the use of “Son of God” for Jesus and Uzair; as well as the use of “children of God” for the Jews. But, the Qur’an condemns such usages and substitutes the title "abd" (=servant), so that there would be no divergence from monotheism.

The present paper is concerned to examine the way in which Nāgārjuna, an influential Buddhist philosopher who lived in the second century A. D., dealt with the problem of the existence of God. It is, in fact, concerned to show that such theological positions as theism, atheism, agnosticism, or pantheism are not those taken by Mādhyamika Buddhism. Based on a critical analysis Nāgārjuna, as a representative of the Mādhyamika Buddhism, does not deny the existence of God; neither does he regard it as dubious. He, in fact, regards the question of the existence of God as senseless. The position of Mādhyamika Buddhism is neither theistic nor atheistic. It regards the propositions "God exists" and "God does not exist" as senseless. This writing is an attempt to provide the readers with a detailed explanation of Nāgārjuna's approach to the problem of the existence of God. It aims to provide a proper understanding of the position taken by Mādhyamika Buddhism on the problem of the existence of God.

Man's encounter with the world raises a great many questions for him. He asks: How is the world created? What is the nature of the world? What is going to happen to the world? And especially: How does the world work? Man's attempt to answer these questions gives birth to cosmology. The diversity of the answers to these questions causes the diversity of cosmologies. Cosmology has had three periods: magical, mythological, and geometrical. This paper is concerned to examine the cosmology of the ancient Greece, which is closely associated with mythology, especially the myths of creation. The way in which the world is created and the existence and the nature of its ruling force are the points with which the myths are concerned. The myths of creation can be divided into six groups: 1. Creation out of nothing; 2. Creation out of Chaos; 3. Creation out of the cosmic seed; 4. Creation out of the cosmic parents; 5. A supernatural and sudden creation; 6. And creation through diving. There are a wide range of accounts of the myths of creation in the ancient Greece; they are given by Homer, Hesiod, Orpheus, Pelasgians, Pherecides, and Diodorus Siculus. This paper is concerned with these accounts.

To juxtapose "non-realism" and "religious" gives birth to a new theological concept. Based on the philosophical meditations on the reality of the sensible and supersensible worlds, the religious non-realism denies the existence of the referents of the religious concepts. Although this new theological approach is placed within a philosophical context due to the references made to Wittgenstein's views and the linguistic foundations of post modernism, the cry of protest against the authoritarianism of the church is indicative of its social aspects. The opponents of this approach, who uphold realism as to the religious concepts, have paid a particular attention to verification and other epistemological and linguistic issues; and comparing it with the concept of faith, they have compared non-realism to a peaceful and unbounded ocean. In this writing I shall be first concerned to make some introductory considerations on religious non-realism; and then, I will consider Don Cupitt's Non-Realism. The arguments of the realist theology as represented by Brian Hebblethwaite are also taken into consideration in functionalist, linguistic, and epistemological terms. The writing concludes that the epistemological approach far outweighs the linguistic one.